Missing the ship - a true story

[jody]

We’ve all ‘heard’ of people missing the ship, but has anyone really had it happen to them? Per request, I’m posting an excerpt from my 2003 Med cruise on the Golden Princess where we did MISS THE SHIP and survived to tell the story. This is for those of you who always wondered ‘how does that happen?’ and ‘what do you do when it happens.’ It’s detailed and very long, but you might find it entertaining or enlightening. Our tour was the standard Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano trip that mirrors a Princess offering. We just had extremely bad luck in that it was a holiday in Italy and there was an unexpected accident. You normally don’t assume that a 30 minute drive away from the ship will take 5 hours on the return trip. I still recommend private excursions and will continue to take them where it makes sense.

Excerpt from Med Review Barcelona to Venice

Part 6

 

Naples, Italy (Pompeii and Sorrento)…..Monday, June 2, 2003………Sunny and 90°

After breakfast in the Horizon Court, our same group of six Cruise Critics met again on the 5th floor near the Patisserie for the Naples tour booked through Daniele. Remo had needed a day off as he had been doing back to back tours, so we were assigned Carlo. He was waiting for us with a sign as soon as we stepped off the boat. Today was already starting out better than yesterday morning. We loaded up the van, this one was a little smaller since we only have 6 today, but it is a brand new Mercedes and has nice leather seats and air conditioning that worked well. Kevin rode shotgun, three of us were in the middle seat and two were in the back. We drove a short way on the freeway then turned around at a toll booth. Carlo noted that he had missed the turn he wanted even though he had taken this road hundreds of time before. The government has been busy upgrading the signs for Pompeii and I guess he just had a senior moment (I can relate and I’m only 35!). This caused us to lose about 15 minutes. Only later on in the day would we realize how significant this error might have been. Because we were off the ship early, we were on our way to Pompeii in plenty of time to beat the tour bus rush. During the drive, Carlo convinced us of the value of hiring a private guide in Pompeii. We had originally decided to rent audio guides, but the more we talked about it, the more a guide made sense. This turned out to be a great decision. The town of Pompeii is very crowded tourists and traffic. We parked and met up with the guide Carlo had called for us on the drive from Naples. Gaetano was great. We breezed right past the huge entrance line and he helped me buy tickets for our group at the tour guide window. He gave us a two hour tour and helped up sneak past several slow moving tour bus crowds along the way. I really felt that we got every penny’s worth by using Gaetano as our own private guide for the six of us. He would find a small piece of shade everywhere we went and tell us the history of the place. At the end of our tour, we got a private tour of the Baths. Apparently, you only get to see this part if you have a private guide and the guide must book a specific entrance time for this area. It is very warm at Pompeii (although I relish the heat and sun coming from the snowbound great white north in Minnesota) and there are only a few shady spots. Be sure to wear your sunscreen, bring water, and be prepared to walk on uneven roads and rock paths. It is a very interesting place and I believe you could easily spend a day there if you didn’t get too tired or too warm. Some things to notice on your trip: cat’s eyes, the ‘sign’ pointing the way to the brothel, and the grooves that signify a building was a shop not a residence. In the sidewalks, you will see tiny white rocks or pieces of tile. These ‘cat’s eyes’ would catch the sun and reflect (like a cat’s eye in the dark) and guide the sailors to the city and to the streets. If you look closely on the main street into Pompeii, you will see a certain part of a man’s anatomy carved into the road at an angle. This sign was used to point the sailors in the direction of the brothel. To determine whether a building was a shop or a residence, look to see if there is a thin groove along the base of the front wall. If the groove is here, it means this was a shop and the groove was for the door which could be slid open or shut depending upon whether the store was open or not. Our guide ended up being the brother of the guy who ran the souvenir stand/snack shop at the parking lot across from the entrance to Pompeii and we were able to get a 20% discount on our purchases there. I bought a small overlay book that shows the ruins before and after. This really helps you get an idea of what the city might have been like. I truly think that a private guide is the best way to see Pompeii if you have limited time. We did see a number of people with the audio guides, but I just can’t imagine they were able to get the same experience that we did.

 

Shortly after noon, we paid Gaetano (Carlo had waited with the van while we were gone) and loaded up to head out to Sorrento. Traffic was definitely busier at this time of day. We drove past a beach area where they are converting an old mill into a new beach hotel and saw cars and motorcycles parked everywhere. Driving in Italy is like driving no where else in the world. Street sign, stop signs and stoplights are all suggestions to the Italians, especially those on motorcycles and scooters. We saw a lady driving a motorcycle with two kids perched on it, one in front of her and one behind her. A multitude of beach toys and equipment was dangling off the bike and the kids. In the US you would be arrested for attempting something like that, but in Italy, she was just one of the many heading to the beach for a day in the sun. At one point, traffic was just crawling, so Carlo suggested we stop for lunch at a restaurant he knew. Mustafa’s is down a winding road a few kilometers before Sorrento. The restaurant had patio seating over looking the water across the street from the restaurant. The food is prepared inside then carried across the road to the covered patio area. It was nice and cool out there and we had a great view of boats and the water. We ordered and received the beverages we had requested and some bruschetta we had not. We were hungry so we dipped into the bread covered with olive oil and fresh tomato chunks. Later we found out that there was a charge for the bread that we had not ordered. This is a common occurrence in Germany and Austria, where I have been charged up to a 5 Euro ‘cover charge’ for very stale bread. The bruschetta we had was great, so I didn’t argue about paying the extra for it. Just be aware that you must refuse the bread if you don’t want to end up paying for it. We ended up waiting 25 minutes or so for the food we had ordered. It seemed like the others (mostly Italian families) received their food quicker than us, but maybe it was my imagination. Little did we know that this 25 minute delay was the second event that could have changed our fate at the end of the day. I had a great light salad (insalata mista) and a bowl of risotto that I truly enjoyed. Others had seafood which they said was good. The food was fresh and tasty and fairly reasonable considering we were eating ‘on the water.’

 

After lunch (around 2:45 or so), we found the roads to be almost traffic free in our direction. We drove past several sights that would have been good photo stops, but we didn’t ask Carlo to stop. I figured the scenery would only get better and we would have more photo opportunities later in the day. We made it to Sorrento around 3:10 and we noticed a Princess tour bus loading up and getting ready to leave. Carlo dropped us off at an inlaid wood store that he recommended. We looked around in the shop (nice stuff but very expensive), saw a very short demonstration on how the inlaid wood table tops are made, tried a taste of Limoncello (strong stuff-it’s like electric lemonade), then headed out to stroll down the main shopping street in Sorrento. We had planned to meet the van at the main city square at 4:00, but 4 of us finished early and were at the designated sight at 3:40. Little did we know that if all 6 of us had arrived back at the van early, the final outcome of the day might have been different. This was our third event of the day that delayed us more than 15 minutes. While waiting for the other couple, we saw a newly married bride and groom taking photos in the middle of the square. We also saw orange trees with ripe oranges hanging from them in front of the stores in the square. You don’t see that in Minnesota. The other couple arrived shortly after 4:00 and we started on our way to Positano. Traffic wasn’t bad at all, but after a few minutes, Carlo mentioned that he was worried that if we went all the way to Positano we might have trouble making it back to the ship on time. I can admit that I was thinking to myself that I really would like to go all the way to Positano and that we would be fine with time even if we did go. Luckily, my friend Kevin quickly told Carlo that he agreed we should turn around immediately and head back to the ship. Carlo turned around and Bill mentioned it would be nice to stop along the way at one of the nice photo opportunity spots we had seen on our drive up the coast. To accommodate the request, Carlo ended up turning around again to backtrack to find the spot. The others hadn’t been paying as close attention to where we were going (it’s difficult with those winding roads) and what Carlo was saying under his breath, so I was the only one who realized we were backtracking. We stopped once for a photo, but it wasn’t quite the right place we had been thinking of. After 20 minutes of backtracking, I told Carlo we should just give up and return straight to the ship. This was our fourth and final event that took time that we later realized we didn’t have to spare. Soon after we got on the right track back to the ship, the traffic started building. (The roads had been fairly clear in the afternoon to this point.) We got stuck in a jam on one windy road in Sorrento and somehow Carlo was able to back the van up into a driveway and turn around. Somehow we squeezed through places our van never should have fit, between cars coming in the opposite direction and parked cars on our side of the small two lane road. We ended up back on the main drag in Sorrento, but it was backed up just as much as the windy side road. We sat in traffic and watched as people walking past us kept pulling ahead of us time and time again. After an hour we had only gone about 2-3 miles and we knew we might be in trouble. It was 5:00 and we were supposed to be back onboard at 6:30 for a 7:00 p.m. sail away. We started joking around thinking of the best way to get to the ship: motorcycle (could we find six scooters each willing to take one of us?), helicopter (how much would that cost?!?! and where would it be able to land on this hilly countryside?), bicycles (I can ride 10 miles an hour which would get me back to the ship by 8:00 but still might be faster than driving), a boat? I actually asked Carlo at this point if he could just take us to the pier in Sorrento so we could pay someone to take us to the ship via the water. He said we were already past the turn and that we wouldn’t be able to find a boat to take us there. I still believe this would have been our best option as there were side roads it looks like we could have taken to get us down near the water. For 100 Euro, someone would have taken us in their boat to Naples. The clock kept ticking and traffic was near a standstill. Half our group started getting upset and three of us kept our cool because we knew it was out of our hands at this point and all we could do is pray and keep our hopes up. SIDENOTE: I usually live a very busy (and over scheduled) life. Because of this, I tend to end up stressed and high strung. During this trip, I’d done my best to relax, get plenty of rest, and enjoy myself. As a result, I was calm, cool and collected during our entire unfortunate adventure. My friends back home find this very hard to believe, but hopefully my Cruise Critic friends can vouch for me. At this point, we knew a least one Princess bus was only an hour or so ahead of us. We knew we wouldn’t make it back by 6:30 p.m. or even 7:00, but we were hoping that the delay of the Princess buses would buy us enough time to make it to the ship on time. By 6 p.m. we started making calls to Daniele and Remo to see if they could contact Princess for us. Unfortunately, none of us had brought the Princess Patter with us, so we did not have the Princess port transfer agent name and number with us to call. That would have been our best hope for salvation. We told Remo he could look for Princess info on the Internet and try to get word to the ship of our whereabouts. Remo said he did make contact with the Naples tour bus company that provides the Princess tour buses. They told him that some Princess buses were still out, so we still had time. I truly believed that if we could make it back to the pier by 9:00 p.m. we would be OK. Part of the reason I was able to stay calm and happy was that I truly believed it would work out OK for us. As the evening wore on, traffic only got worse. At one point, we decided our only hope was to use the white flag out the window to signify an emergency. We definitely were in a bit of a bind. Kevin waved a white sock out the window (that’s the only white item we had available) and we did our best to weave through wall-to-wall traffic that was already crazy with motorcycles weaving in and out. At one point, we even folded in the side mirrors so we could squeeze through smaller spaces. This tactic bought us a little time, but because traffic was so awful, there wasn’t much ground to gain. Carlo is doing his best to drive and we are fielding calls to Daniele and Remo, hoping they are able to contact Princess. Up through the last call, they have told us the ship is still at the pier waiting for delayed Princess tours. We know we aren’t the only ones in this traffic jam of all traffic jams. Bill is from LA and he mentioned that even California traffic wasn’t this bad. We finally made it to the tollbooth that leads to the A-3 (I believe) freeway and traffic somehow seemed to get worse. Eight or so toll booth lanes all funneled into two or three freeway lanes but it appeared that no one on the freeway ahead of us was moving at all. We later found out that a tour bus had been in an accident with some type of vehicle and had killed three people, just after the entry onto the freeway. This caused a clog up of the two roads out of the countryside that fed into the freeway. Others on our cruise also mentioned that two Princess tour buses traveling together were delayed when the first tour bus hit a motorcycle and knocked a woman off the back. The cycle driver apparently broke the bus driver’s window and starting beating up the bus driver. The second Princess bus had to stop to give a statement to the police as to what had happened. Carlo decided our best bet was to avoid the freeway, so we somehow were able to exit off and hit the city side streets instead. Carlo was hoping to run parallel to the freeway for a while then get on it at a point further up the road. Eventually we were back in Naples to where we had started many long hours ago this morning. We raced through the streets to the port in the dark. We flew up the street into the pier area and could not see the Golden Princess anywhere. By this time it was about 8:47 p.m. and fairly dark. We thought we were at the wrong pier slip, but Bill recognized a terminal building he had used that morning to make a phone call. He said what we didn’t want to hear: “The ship is gone. It left without us.” We just couldn’t believe it because we had hoped if we would be back by 9:00 p.m. we would be good due to all the delays with the Princess tours. At that point, we saw a car drive up and a blonde lady wave at us. I was hoping she knew how to get us on the ship. Her name was Andrena and she was the Port Transfer Agent for Princess. She said we just missed the ship by 15 minutes. (The log of the cruise actually shows the ship left around 8:20, so it was actually more like 27 minutes instead of 15.) We asked if we could find a fast boat to catch up with the ship and she said the Golden had left at full throttle because of it’s late departure and there was no way we could catch up with it at this point. She said that the ship could not wait for us because they didn’t know if the six of us were together or separate and how far away we were. Remo had told us he was in contact with the Captain of our ship and he knew where we were, but obviously both stories cannot be true. I later found out that other cruisers had been told by the Princess staff that no one had been left behind in Naples, which we can verify was not true. Apparently, over 85 people were late for the ship and everyone but the six of us made it on board. The last ones on were a small group who had booked a private driver through Princess. They do truly wait for every one of their tours, whether large or small. No one could have predicted that the 30 minute drive from Sorrento to Naples would take nearly 5 hours (and would have been longer had we not used the white hanky out the window trick). I still will use private tours in the future, as they are usually are large cost savings and provide you with a better experience.

 

Even though we were momentarily devastated, we were glad to have Andrena. She took us to check in with the Port Police and to help us get a game plan. None of us had passports but the other four did have a copy of their passport front page. I only had a driver’s license (my bad – I know!) and Kevin had absolutely nothing but his cruise card. It was Kevin’s first foreign trip and with me being responsible for all the planning and coordination for our trip, I let this one thing slip past me this one time. The police weren’t happy the two of us didn’t have proper documents but after several minutes of discussion in Italian, Andrena got them to agree to write a letter for us all explaining the loss of our documents so we could travel on. The whole situation was like a scene from a movie. We were taken into a large darkened building, up some stairs to a large darkened room. Andrena’s husband, dressed in a suite, is sitting back relaxing in a chair, smoking a cigarette and observing. Andrena, a tall attractive blonde woman is chatting rapid fire back and forth with the short, dark haired police officers in uniform who are also smoking. The six of us are standing their like children waiting to be scolded and awaiting our punishment. It would have been a great photo opportunity, just to record the absurdness of it all, but we knew we’d best just stay quiet. During this exchange, Carlo calls home and finds out that his apartment has been robbed during the day and his girlfriend is very upset and needs him to come home to Rome. We don’t want to let our ride to Rome go, but Andrena convinces us that it is best if we stay in Naples tonight where she can help us. Carlo heads off to Rome (2 ½ hours away) and Andrena’s husband shuttles us off, in two groups, to the Jolly Hotel just a few blocks away from the pier. It takes over an hour to get us all to the hotel and checked in. The hotel clerk isn’t happy because Kevin and I have no passport papers. Andrena has our security picture and info from the ship and tells the clerk she will have the passport pages faxed to the hotel from the ship in the morning. We finally get checked into our 3 hotel rooms by 10:30. We are starving since we haven’t eaten a thing since 2:30, but I decide sleep is more important at this point. Besides, I have built up a reservoir of fat from my first few days on the ship, so I’m in no danger of starving to death at this point! Although spendy ($177 per night at a 50% discount off rack rate), our hotel room is huge (by European standards) and nice with a deep bathtub and a separate glassed door shower. Kevin heads for bed while I decide to make use of the tub since I’m paying for it anyway. I fill the bath with bubbles (bubble bath provided) and step in to soak away the cares of the day. It felt great! Because we basically only had the clothes on our back, we have no toiletries. Luckily the hotel was able to provide us each with a toothbrush and a tiny tube of toothpaste. I combed my hair with my fingers for two days. The bad thing was that most of us had been better prepared the day before. I had had my comb with me in Florence and Doug and Gloria actually had their passports with them that day. We had heard horror stories about the traffic in Florence, but never in Naples. Live and learn. I brushed my teeth and headed to bed in my shorts and tank top. Before going to sleep, I took inventory of my meager possessions and discovered nothing of much value: ½ bottle of water, small painting and book purchased at Pompeii, a pen and a few Kleenex. Next time I leave the ship, I will ensure my backpack is better equipped.

 

 

Naples

Private guide Pompeii/Amalfi Coast $100

OR

Train to Pompeii $4

(1 mile walk pier to train station/30 minute ride)

Cab to train station $15 total

Pompeii Entrance $10

Pompeii Audio guide rental $ 5

Lunch $25

 

ACTUAL EXPENSE in Naples

Private guide + tip 83

Pompeii Entrance fee

Pompeii Private Guide Gaetano 19 (110 total w/ tip for 6)

Pompeii ruins painting 15 Euro

Pompeii overlay book 12

Lunch at Mustafa’s (near Sorrento) 20

Limoncello in Sorrento (75 cl bottle) 7

Postcards 3 Euro

Jolly Hotel 140 Euro for 2

Part 7

 

Naples to Athens Deviation (at Sea day missed)….June 3, 2003…Sunny and 80’s

Andrena told us she would meet us in the hotel lobby at 9:00 a.m. The six of us met at 8:00 for our free hotel breakfast. We loaded up with fruit and portable crackers as we didn’t know when we would get our next meal. We checked out and sat in the lobby waiting for Andrena. At 9:15 she called to say she was running late but that the travel agency was working on finding us plane tickets to Athens. Last night Andrena told us we could give up the last week of our cruise and just meet the ship in Venice next Monday, but we decided that was not an option. Besides flying to Athens, we also considered taking a ferry from Italy’s east coast to Athens. The ferry took 18 hours so we decided to avoid that route. We split into 2 groups this morning, three of them going to buy the airline tickets and get the letter from the police allowing us to travel without documents and three of us staying at the hotel to field phone calls. Andrena was able to contact the ship via satellite and have our passports copied (after retrieving them from our safes) and faxed to Naples. During the morning Remo found us (Carlo had left last night before knowing where we were going to spend the night) by calling all around Naples. He and Daniele were going to work hard to help us get back on track. He wanted us to come to his house for a big meal before our flight to Athens, but we didn’t have the time to do that and we did not want to miss our flight. It took five hours to buy the plane tickets, get a driver (booked by Daniele) to take us to Rome and to get the letter from the police. Nothing goes quickly in Italy. In the US we could have accomplished the same in less than an hour. It’s good to realize that in many places in Europe (Germany excluded) and the Caribbean, the people are on their own time schedule and there is nothing you can to do hurry them up. By 1:00 p.m. we had arrangements made. We grabbed a quick lunch on the go (I must admit I stopped for a takeout burger at McDonald’s because it was the closest place) and jumped into the van to drive to Rome driven by Umberto (courtesy of Daniele) at 1:30. On our drive to Rome, it started raining and cars started pulling off the road. We started to worry, as we didn’t have a lot of extra time for delay. Luckily, the rain came in spurts and we were able to continue without stopping. We made it to the Rome airport (Fumincello) by 4:00 p.m. I should note that we were on the phone the entire day with Daniele and Remo, ensuring that we were being taken care of. Thank goodness everyone in Europe has cell phones and that they are compatible from country to country. Daniele was also able to find a driver and a hotel for us in Athens, so we wouldn’t be left to our own devices. At the Rome airport, we waited in line until the Olympic Air window opened up. When the agent saw our rumpled group, he asked if we were ‘The Six.’ We were. He then asked if we had any luggage to check and we thought that was pretty funny. Between the six of us we had two backpacks (mine mostly empty) and one plastic bag full of our worldly possessions. We had to stick together at this point, since the police wrote one letter for the entire group. We checked in quickly then had a decent dinner at nice airport self serve restaurant. Our 7:15 pm flight was uneventful except for the dinner they served us. It consisted of a pile of potatoes that looked like deviled eggs, some pink stuff that might have been some sort of fluff with beets, a piece of salmon looking fish and some interesting soft cheese chunks. I did try everything on my plate but no one on the plane seemed to have eaten much when the flight attendants collected the trays. We were on the ground in Greece (yay!) by 10:00 p.m. I was worried about customs in Greece as the gate agent in Rome wasn’t happy about our lack of passports and our letter from the police, forgetting that Greece is part of the EU. Because our flight originated in the EU, we didn’t have to worry about passport control upon arrival. Dennis (son of George the Famous Taxi Driver) was waiting for us with a sign. We were so happy to see him! Daniele had given us a question to ask Dennis to ensure he was the right guy. Apparently, all the taxi drivers in Athens are called George! It almost felt like a secret mission with a secret code word. Dennis gave the correct answer so we were on our way to our hotel that Dennis, George, and Daniele recommended. The Hotel Fenix was a Best Western hotel (these are all independently owned) located between the aiport and the pier along the coast. It was not as nice as the Jolly Hotel but was less expensive and more than adequate for our situation. We checked in quickly and headed off to get a few hours sleep. Dennis was to return at 6:30 to pick us up and take us to the ship in the morning. We had hoped to be waiting on the dock as the Golden sailed into the port of Pireaus. That would have been a great photo opportunity. Safe on Greek soil and minutes away from the ship’s dock, we slept much better tonight.

 

BUDGET for Naples to Athens - N/A

 

ACTUAL EXPENSES Naples to Athens

Burger and soda at McDonalds 2.5 Euro

Pizza, tea, small bottle wine at Rome airport 13 Euro

Gelato at Rome airport 2.7

Rome to Athens airfare on Olympia Air 222 Euro (same day ticket, one way)

Hotel Fenix in Athens 110 Euro for 2

Part 8

 

Athens, Greece…..Wednesday, June 4, 2003………Sunny and 90°

We had breakfast at the hotel after waking and dressing. We decided to wait until we got on the ship to shower as we would then have clean clothes to change into. Dennis arrived around 6:40 and took us straight to the port in his vintage Mercedes limo (last night was my first limo ride ever!). We were so happy when we saw the Golden sitting there waiting for us. We rushed through security in the terminal building and ran onto the ship around 7:15 a.m. Rhys Knight from the Pursers Office met us as we embarked and took us to his office to retrieve our passports before we headed for our rooms to shower. The group of six all got ready and met up at 8:30 to venture out for a day on our own together in Athens.

Post Script:

If I didn't cover it earlier, I wanted to tell you that insurance did cover the full cost of our 'deviation expenses' when we missed the ship. There was a $500 pp limit and we ended up spending about $450 each. We send in copies of the relevant information and were paid quickly with no question. I definitely recommend insurance for big trips like European cruises. The other couples in our group used different insurance companies and had more trouble recouping their money, but I believe they succeeded in the end.

Also, it was interesting to note that Princess did not charge us the automatic tips for the days we were off the ship. That was nice of them. Princess was also very aware that we were ‘missing’ and they had emailed over 20 people in the company to keep people posted about the status of our situation.

[TinaLee]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, but oh my... my old eyes just couldn't read that tiny type!

 

To anyone else having issues with the same problem, who might bypass attempting to read this because of the small type size, try cutting and pasting to your clipboard on your computer and increasing the type size there... worked like a charm.

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience!

[lambs2]

Jody,

Your post is a real eye-opener for all of us who fancy ourselves as the ultimate 'do-it-your-self' types! Most important and helpful points I gleaned from your unfortunate experience:

 

1) Always carry a copy of your passport (page one at least) with you in any foreign port

 

2) Always bring with you the telephone number for the ship's agent at that port so they can at least be notified in a siituation like you describe

 

3) Trip insurance with coverage for the unexpected can save you a bundle

 

4)Plan out an agenda with actual time slots for what you want to accomplish on a tour. Try to go to the FURTHEST location away from your ship FIRST. If you see you are running behind in any area do what it takes, skip a stop if necessary, but get back on track ASAP! ALWAYS leave a buffer of at least an hour or two at the end of the day.

 

4) Keeping a level head and a good attitude while traveling are indespensable assets!

[Globaliser]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, but oh my... my old eyes just couldn't read that tiny type!

 

To anyone else having issues with the same problem, who might bypass attempting to read this because of the small type size, try cutting and pasting to your clipboard on your computer and increasing the type size there... worked like a charm.

As an alternative, anyone having this problem might want to go to the following pages which have the parts of this review that relate to missing the ship and its aftermath:-

• http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=1518
• http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=1519

My thanks also to jody for posting this, which for me underlines the following points:-

1. If you miss the ship, the ship's agent should be your first point of contact. That is why the agent's details are always printed in the daily programme for that day, and on the separate port information sheet if there is one.
2. If your actual passport is in your cabin safe on the ship when the ship sails without you, everyone knows where it is and the ship can get hold of it. On the other hand, if it's been stolen while you're ashore, it's been stolen for ever.

[hillslife]

Thanks for your very timely post. We are doing a private guide to Herculenan, Positano, Ravello and Amalfi in July and I have read about the terrible traffic - so have some anxiety about missing the ship in this port. Our only redeeming factor is that it is our second to the last day and our last port is Rome - so I figure we could take a train there if we needed to.

 

We plan on carrying our passports and credit card and definitely the Princess Patter with the Port Agents name - hopefully we will be very prepared and NOT need it.

 

Glad it all worked out for you - thanks for sharing.

[chipmaster]

Every cruisers worst nightmare I'm sure :eek:

 

Lesson 1) If you fear getting left behind then take a boat sponsored tour

 

Lesson 2) If you want more for less $, plan realistically with your private tour. Watch time carefully and make mid tour adjustments if things change!

 

Clearly these folks tried to do it all while in Naples and perhaps didn't consider that outbound traffic situation doesn't at all reflect the rush back to Naples that likely occurs every day in this area. I also think they should have not chosen a leasure 2 hours stop in Pompeii then followed that with the "long" lunch. Something has to give if you want to do both Pompeii and the coast in one day and it seems they simply went with the flow.

 

They did have a good outcome, but another reason to carry important numbers and info with you on every excursion :D

[jody]

All,

Sorry about the tiny type, I didn't think about that when I posted my looong review.

 

lambs2 and Globsliser - good recaps of the lessons learned. Thanks!

 

Obviously, totally unexpected things may occur on your trip (like needing 5 hours to drive 30 miles), so it's good to be prepared. For those uncertain about private tours, you should know that missing the ship is truly a rare occurance, usually the result of an extraordinary event (in our case even the Princess tours were hours late, so this was not a normal traffic day in Amalfi coast), so prepare for the worst but expect the best.

 

Of course, this may be different in the Carribean where I've heard a lot of stories of people missing the ship after spending the day partying at Carlos & Charlies and losing track of the time. I can't speak to that. :-)

[travelingran]

oh jody, what a story. that is one i am sure you will not forget. thanks for sharing.

 

we are on the freedom for july 21. what week will you be going.

 

madi

[travelingran]

phone number of agent sounds imperative. any ideas on how to get the number. i guess we will need to get it prior to the next port.

 

i think the passport copy if another great idea.

 

madi

 

ps i read above that the ship's agent phone number should be listed with the daily activities.

[cabrfam]

Is there any way to get this number before you cruise? We have a flight that will arrive the day we leave, so I thought this would be helpful to have in case of delays. We will be traveling light so baggage shouldn't be an issue. You just never know.

[lambs2]

The port agent's telephone number for the specific port where the ship docked was on every daily program for our Med cruise on HAL. If it is NOT shown on your particular daily program you can get the phone number and name from the front desk.

 

I am sure you can get the port agent's name and number for your embarkation port by calling your cruise line.

[California Native]

Hi Jody!

Thanks for taking my suggestion!

I think your experience as stressful as it was for you...

Is such a valuable one to share with others...

As I mentioned we prefer to do private tours or completly be on our own...

The moo factor :eek: for us on a shorex is worse than a dental appointment!

However, I am a type A personality :o , who always has the OH SH** continengency plan B-F already figured out...

and once that's figured out..

I'm ready to exhale and enjoy the journey...

my family and friends always make fun of me for this

...so I took great delight in sending them your story! :D

Anyway, your attitude was awesome through this, and it's always wonderful to hear about the kindness of strangers!

Here's to....

Smooth sailing in your future adventures!

[cujosmom]

Several years ago we did a Med cruise and had arranged for a private driver to take us to Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast drive, lunch at Positano, etc. .... just like your tour.

 

Our driver suggested instead of doing Pompeii first, we should do the coastline and the small cities first and Pompeii last in case there were traffic problems. This way we would be closer to Naples later in the day. That actually worked out very good as when we got to Pompeii around 3:00, it was basically deserted because most of the tours go there first thing in the morning.

 

Question: Did the tour company/drivers you hired for your day along the Amalfi Coast drive you guys to Rome complimentary?

 

I'm glad you had travel insurance. We never travel without it either.

[wrp96]

phone number of agent sounds imperative. any ideas on how to get the number. i guess we will need to get it prior to the next port.

 

i think the passport copy if another great idea.

 

madi

 

ps i read above that the ship's agent phone number should be listed with the daily activities.

 

 

Just a note, before you get off the ship, check the port agent's number. On my last cruise, one day they forgot to change the port agent when they did that day's schedule. I happened to notice it before I left the ship. I went to guest relations and they had to search for the correct number. I eventually ended up with a direct phone number for the ship because no one could locate the correct number for the port agent.

[jody]

cujosmom,

Yes, Daniele (Driver in Rome) covered the cost of the ride from Naples to Rome and also he covered our transfer in Athens with George the Taxi Driver's son Dennis. Neither driver would even accept our tips. I have only good things to say about Daniele and his assistance during our situation. His driver did suggest we turn back as soon as traffic looked like it might be a problem and he called a number of hotels in Naples looking for us to ensure that he could do all he could to get us to the ship the fastest way possible. I was very impressed by his efforts and he definitely did right by us. Now we know that doing Positano first and Pompeii last would have been smarter, however, we really wanted to see Pompeii and we thought it might be cooler in the morning versus the afternoon. I hadn't thought about the crowds being smaller in the a.m. Hindsight is just so 20-20.

 

where2next,

Thanks for suggesting I post the excerpt of our trip 'deviation' as it is spurring some good conversation and ideas for others and that is what Cruise Critic is all about! :-)

[klfrodo]

Jodi, what a great review and what a group of troopers you are.

 

I'll respectfully disagree with the "take copy of passport theory".

But what if it get's stolen? you ask.

Good question. I did a little googleing.... when did "to google" become a word let alone a verb?

 

Anyway, the numbers came out that there are approximaetly 61 million valid US passports out there. According to a congressional report there are 300,000 that have been reported lost and/or stolen.

Let's conservatively take the 300,000 number as stolen.

That equates to less than 1/2 of 1% of stolen US passports.

 

I'll take those odds any day of the week. Anytime I'm on foreign soil, if at all possible, my ORIGINAL passport will be on my body. The copies can stay on the ship and with my emergency contact back home.

 

Anyway...just my take on the subject

[CruisinD]

Hi Jody,

 

We were on this cruise with you and we all met via the informal Cruise Critic meeting.

 

Ever since, on our many cruises after that one, I always remember to take a copy of the Port Agent info. And I think of you every time!

 

Denise (and Tim)

[Me2]

We’ve all ‘heard’ of people missing the ship, but has anyone really had it happen to them? Per request, I’m posting an excerpt from my 2003 Med cruise on the Golden Princess where we did MISS THE SHIP and survived to tell the story. This is for those of you who always wondered ‘how does that happen?’ and ‘what do you do when it happens.’ It’s detailed and very long, but you might find it entertaining or enlightening. Our tour was the standard Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano trip that mirrors a Princess offering. We just had extremely bad luck in that it was a holiday in Italy and there was an unexpected accident. You normally don’t assume that a 30 minute drive away from the ship will take 5 hours on the return trip. I still recommend private excursions and will continue to take them where it makes sense.

Excerpt from Med Review Barcelona to Venice

Part 6

 

Thank you so much for reposting this review. I have an upcoming cruise in September, and was researching ports, and considering whether I could pair a tour of Pompeii with Amalfi Coast drive. After reading this, I may reconsider. At the very least, you've given us all wonderful tips on preparedness when going ashore. Thank you for sharing your experience. You can be assured you message will help many future cruisers!

 

Sue

[Swtgypsy]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, but oh my... my old eyes just couldn't read that tiny type!

 

To anyone else having issues with the same problem, who might bypass attempting to read this because of the small type size, try cutting and pasting to your clipboard on your computer and increasing the type size there... worked like a charm.

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience!

 

Reader glasses, a bright light and I have a pull down arrow to enlarge text on my screen :)

[Swtgypsy]

Thanks for the story....on our upcoming cruise we are doing some private tours for the first time (though not in Europe) I have been a little nervous about not getting back to the ship on time. I have learned from your story to be prepared!

 

You did a great job being calm....not quite sure how I would of reacted! :eek:

 

Tanja

[janazaz]

Impossible to read because of the extra small font. Why would you do that when it's just as easy to send in 10 or 12 pt fonts...

[California Native]

Impossible to read because of the extra small font. Why would you do that when it's just as easy to send in 10 or 12 pt fonts...

 

 

Read post 7 and she explains why...

you can copy and past into a word document and change the font yourself..

she is providing a wealth of information

[loufiji]

This post is very helpful for those planning trips. For those of you doing a private tour, I second cujosmom. I had wanted to do Pompeii in the morning but our driver recommended we go in the afternoon because we'd be closer to our ship. He said- there is only one skinny Amalfi Coast road- if you're stuck, you're stuck, there's nothing you can do. He also recommended not taking the hydrofoil from Sorrento back to the ship at Naples. Most days I think you'd be fine but he said it can be a little unpredictable wth weather etc. I did notice that Italians aren't as strict as say, Germans, with timing so you'd want an hour up your sleeve for emergencies and trains leaving a little late etc. When we did Pompeii in the afternoon it was hot, but there were no queues and it was a short drive back to the ship.

[PersistenzaretiniKa]

u've been definetly lucky to find such patient and kind people. 5 hours is too long to have documents and so on? i'd like to remind u that u are extra schengen citizens and with no documents and visa u're CLANDESTINE. there are hard laws about these things in italy ( and in europe in general) and they are going to enforce them, even for PEOPLE WHO ARE RELATED TO THEM ( for example if u have workers with no documents and so on) . there is also a law against mafia and terrorism that binds hotels to give to police ALL the names and general infos of their guests.

 

how didn't u think to carry your passport and the daily program of the ship'???

 

 

 

anyway rome airport is FIUMICINO not FUMINCELLO

[schifty'swife]

I will be travelling the med in September, and had decided that the passports would stay in the safe on the ship and we would each carry a copy of our own and our families passports, but now i'm confused and undecided if this is the right thing to do. What is the general consensus on whether to carry passports on day excursions or not?

Thank you